


eclipse

by falterth



Category: Naruto
Genre: Fix-It of Sorts, Gen, Typical Hyuuga Bullshit, Uchiha Hinata, author has no idea what they are doing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-10
Updated: 2019-04-03
Packaged: 2019-06-25 11:38:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 9,483
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15639987
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/falterth/pseuds/falterth
Summary: Hinata is born with black hair instead of the standard Hyūga brown. She has an unusual concentration of chakra pathways around her throat and mouth, and her darker-than-usual eyes have distinct pupils. A chakra-film swims just beneath her irises, reminiscent of the Byakugan but different in a way her father can't seem to figure out.Three years later, she awakens the Sharingan after witnessing Neji screaming and thrashing in pain as one of the Hyūga elders holds him down and presses a seal onto his forehead.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> OCTOBER 28, 2018: painintheassnojutsu is no longer an author.
> 
> NOVEMBER 7, 2018: chapter one has been edited and updated.
> 
> MARCH 26, 2019: chapter two has been edited and updated. lmfao that wait was long

When Hinata is born, Hiashi suspects she isn’t a full-blooded Hyūga. An inkling of suspicion worms itself into his mind, dull enough that he can forget about it if he thinks about other things, like the state of the Hyūga Council or the demands the elders have been making of him—but still there, a grain of sand in the oyster’s mouth.

He plays nice with his wife and holds his daughter close on the night she is born, because even though he suspects, he can’t accuse Futsuko of being unfaithful to him. Not now, at least. Hiashi wants to be wrong. Hinata may have darker eyes than usual, paler skin than usual, and jet-black hair rather than Hyūga brown, but that could be a coincidence. It has to be.

Hiashi forces himself to think about other things because if he thinks too hard about it he won’t be able to ignore it anymore. He doesn’t want Hinata to be non-Hyūga because he needs an heir, but all the same he plans to have a second child with Futsuko to ensure that the line does continue if he finds out Hinata is a bastard. The word leaves a sour taste in his mouth. His second daughter will be a safety net.

He frowns at Hinata, two weeks old, cradled in Futsuko’s arms, and contacts a member of the Branch House named Sukiyo to be her caretaker. Out of sight, out of mind.

Hyūga Hanabi is born two years later and she has textbook Hyūga features—darker skin, brown hair, milky-white eyes. She will make a fine heir. And if Hinata never proves herself to be anything but pure Hyūga, she will be branded with the Caged Bird seal and Hiashi will continue life as usual.

When Hinata is two and a half years old and she meets her cousin Neji for the first time, Hiashi decides it is time to start training her. Hizashi suggests they train together, and Hiashi cannot see any faults in his request. Neji is older and has already begun training—he will be a fine mentor for Hinata. If she can win Neji’s loyalty early on, he will be a valuable asset to her. Hiashi agrees and the two train together every day after lunch.

*

Hinata will be three years old in just a few months. Her training is coming along at a rapid rate. She’s no genius, unlike Neji—and he’ll have to have words with Hizashi about that—but she is not substandard.

Today is one of the rare days when Hinata is spending the day with him instead of with Sukiyo. She’s perched on the edge of his desk while he files various paperwork. She started chakra exercises last week under Hizashi’s supervision. After lunch he will take her over to the Branch House area and leave her with her cousin and uncle.

_Chakra exercises . . ._

Hiashi sets his papers down, commands Hinata to look his way, and activates his Byakugan. She is most likely not going to fit into any of the main chakra categories, as the Hyūga are renowned for their fine chakra control but are generally incompetent at creating genjutsu. Hyūga reserves are generally not large enough to support firing off ninjutsu after ninjutsu . . .

Most of them are taijutsu users, for obvious reasons.

“F-father?” Hinata asks, stumbling over her words. Hiashi will have to do something about that. He’s not sure when she developed that ungainly stutter. “What’s that?”

“Quiet,” he orders. “This is your birthright, the Byakugan. It is a powerful dōjutsu that enables you to see chakra pathways and sense chakra signatures.”

Hinata smiles, makes a delighted sound, and the chakra pathways in her face curve up with the movement of her lips. Hiashi’s eyes immediately focus on the odd number of chakra pathways around her mouth and throat. They’re clustered together there, a dim star in the midst of her system. There are more than there should be. Hiashi puts it out of mind and turns his attention to her eyes.

Hiashi doesn’t expect anything spectacular. Hinata’s not a prodigy. She’s above average at best. Her Byakugan will most likely be as strong as Futsuko’s if not a little stronger. Hiashi can only hope Hanabi will deliver superior results once her chakra training begins.

What he gets is not spectacular, but it is unusual. Hiashi cannot figure out what is wrong with the chakra pathways to her eyes. They are strange.

Dense, tight, anxious, and there is chakra flowing to her pupils that should not be there. An odd film underneath the irises. The chakra gathered there is bright, sharp, and circulates quickly. Will her Byakugan be strong after all? Hiashi will inform his brother to teach her to direct chakra to her eyes. The earlier she activates the Byakugan the stronger she will be. It may hurt, but Hinata will thank Hiashi once she is old enough to realize how strong she will become.

Hiashi redirects his focus toward the rest of her chakra. Hinata’s reserves themselves are pitiful, but are not all toddlers’? They will expand with time. He deactivates his Byakugan and turns away. The clock on his wall tells him it is almost noon.

“Come, Hinata,” Hiashi says. “We will eat, and then you will begin your afternoon training. You are progressing well.”

*

In two months, his elder daughter will be three years old. Hinata learns to hold a kunai without cutting herself, and she learns how to make it fly without going off-course. She’s one of the best marksman the Hyūga have, against his expectations, which Hiashi takes a great deal of pride in.

And then, it seems to . . . stop there.

She doesn’t take well to the Hyūga teachings, but she seems to do well in the generic taijutsu stances that Hiashi is slowly weaning her off of. It would not, after all, become the Hyūga heiress to display the bland taijutsu style taught in the academy. The new changes do not do her well. She is two years old, almost three, barely old enough to execute taijutsu moves perfectly but already Hiashi can tell there is something wrong.

Hinata is improving very slowly, if at all, and Hiashi begins to become anxious about her progress, although he would never say it out loud, not in those words. The next day, he shares with Hinata and Sukiyo and Hizashi the new, harsher training regimen that Hinata will be undergoing. She will improve or she will not be anything at all.

*

It is December twenty-seventh, and after a long day of celebration and festivities Hiashi is completely uninterested in and that Hinata delights in, Hiashi is called into the elders’ room.

“What is the meaning of this?” Hiashi says. It’s more of a sigh than anything, and he prepares for a reprimand from one of the elders. It never comes.

“Hiashi-san, you are to oversee the marking of Neji tomorrow,” Kiyoko, the head of the Hyūga Elder Council, says.

“Kiyoko-sama,” Hiashi interrupts, thinking of Hinata. She’d been happy today. He doesn’t think he feels as much for Hinata as a father should but he wants to grant her this one peace. “I do not think this is a wise decision. Hinata and Neji have been training together. She is unaware of what the Caged Bird Seal represents. If she were to see him in pain, it might hinder her progress.”

“She will see it someday,” Kiyoko argues. “Why not have it happen sooner? Would you have her grow up ignorant to the clan’s beliefs?”

“Very well, Kiyoko-sama,” Hiashi relents. Kiyoko has been an unmoving woman for as long as he’s known her. If he gives up now he will spare himself weeks of headache and stress. “I will make the necessary arrangements.”

“Good,” Kiyoko-sama says, with an air of impatience. The two elders on either side of her sit stoically and silently, hands folded on their laps. “Dismissed.”

*

Hinata’s excited. She’s going to see Neji today, and Neji is always very nice to her.

He’s her best friend, and for some reason she must keep this secret. Hinata thinks that all the adults know anyway, but Neji has always been very serious about not telling them. Is it some kind of game? Is it Neji being weird as usual? Hinata doesn’t know, but it’s fun to sneak around the adults.

Father walks beside her, head held high and back as straight as an iron rod. Hinata wants to hold his hand like she does with Mother and Sukiyo, and Neji sometimes—but Neji doesn’t really like holding hands, he says that holding hands is gross and that he doesn’t hold hands with _anyone,_ especially not Hinata.

But Hinata knows that Neji doesn’t really mean such things. He’s simply shy. Hizashi-san had told her that.

“Father,” Hinata begins. “Wh-when are we going to be there?”

“We’ve already arrived,” Hiashi says shortly, and Hinata is surprised until she looks around her and realizes they’re going to the courtyard.

Hiashi slides open the door for her and Hinata walks in first, smiling as gracefully as she can. Hinata pauses to make sure her kimono is proper and in place, and then she tilts her chin up and walks into . . .

“Father, what is this?” Hinata asks quietly.

“A ceremony, to brand Neji with a mark that symbolizes his loyalty to our clan,” Hiashi replies. “Take your seat, Hinata.”

“Right in between you and Mother?” Hinata asks.

“Yes,” Hiashi confirms.

Hinata holds back a smile— _emotions are unsightly, Hinata-chan,_ Sukiyo tells her—and sits down on the fancy soft pillow. Mother is already there, and she’s smiling but she looks nervous, and Hinata has no idea why she looks so on edge.

“Mother, are you excited?” Hinata asks. She is rarely allowed to wear her fancy kimono, or sit with Mother and Father for this.

“I . . . I am,” Futsuko replies, and looks at Hinata. She seems to spend a long time staring at Hinata’s face, into her eyes, before looking away. “Try not to get too emotional, okay?”

“Um . . . I mean, y-yes, Mother,” Hinata corrects herself.

“The ceremony is beginning,” Hiashi says, making a short motion with his hand. Hinata snaps to attention. “Watch carefully, Hinata, and remain silent. This is the fate of those not born into the main house.”

Hinata does not understand very well what her father is trying to say, but she draws herself up and makes sure her posture is perfect. She sees Neji in formal robes being brought up into the center of the courtyard. His father is accompanying him, and he doesn’t look very

“What are they doing?” Hinata whispers.

Hiashi shakes his head, gesturing for Hinata to watch and learn. She nods and turns back to the courtyard.

One of the elders, Kiyoko-sama, says, “Begin.”

Two men, also elders, step forward and gesture in sync for Neji to lie down on a raised circular block of stone in the middle of the yard. That is a little unnerving. Did they have to practice a lot to be able to move at the same time?

Neji gulps nervously, or at least it _looks_ like he is nervous, and Hinata wills him to cheer up. This should be an honor for him. Father had said this is special for people born into the Branch House. She wonders what it could be. Maybe a badge, or a tattoo of honor. She’s never seen any members of the Branch House look different from the Main House members.

Maybe Neji doesn’t know what’s going on. Hinata prepares herself to cheer for him, but remembers at the last moment that Father said to be quiet, so she shuts her mouth, feeling oddly satisfied with the clicking sound her teeth make when they hit each other.

Click, click. Open, shut. Click. Click click click.

“Silence,” Hiashi hisses, from where he is sitting beside her. Hinata flinches but says nothing. She closes her mouth quietly and wills her jaw to stay in place.

One of the elders has some kind of brush in his hand, and he’s dipped it in green ink. A pretty shade of green, really. Neji is lying down flat, and his shoulders are being pinned in place by the shorter of the two elders.

“I will apply the Caged Bird Seal,” the tall elder, who Hinata _thinks_ is named Yamashita-sama but she isn’t really sure, says in a flat voice.

“Proceed,” Kiyoko-sama directs.

“No,” someone whimpers, and Hinata belatedly realizes that it’s Neji. “Please.”

“You must serve the main house,” the short elder intones, and it’s then that Hinata realizes that there might be something wrong, but Father said to watch, so she watches.

The tall elder paints something onto Neji’s forehead with the brush, and everything is quiet for a second until he brings his hand up into a seal, one that Hinata recognizes because she’s studied. It’s the boar seal, one used in a lot of earth jutsu, and also sealing since it’s a very strong and hardy seal, according to Sukiyo.

It is silent.

The elder’s arms shake.

“Activate,” he says, and that is when the screaming starts.

Hinata yelps out of reflex, and then looks around to find out where the screaming is from, tugging on her father’s sleeve. “Someone’s in—”

Then, her eyes land on Neji, who is thrashing against the short elder’s grip. His forehead glows a sickly green color, and his screaming— _his_ screaming, Neji’s screaming—sounds so wrong and raw and painful that Hinata jumps to her feet before falling back down again because her legs have gone numb and tingly.

“Father! S-something’s wrong!” Hinata says. “Why—”

“No,” Hiashi murmurs, making Hinata strain to hear him over those horrible, horrible noises. “Nothing is wrong. This is part of the process.”

It can’t be part of the process. Family isn’t supposed to hurt people. Something must be going wrong. Neji’s screaming, out of breath, and there’s only one thing that could be happening right now. They’re . . . they’re—

“You’re killing him!” Hinata screeches, all calm lost in an instant. Neji’s screams are becoming hoarse, vocal cords fraying, and Hinata jumps up again and tries to rush toward him. Father’s hands shoot out to grab her shoulders.

“Hinata,” Father warns. She twists toward him. He looks mad, impatient, and she doesn’t understand why he’s not helping Neji. “Do not interfere.”

“Then help him!” she cries, struggling to get out of her father’s grip. The screaming is horrible. Neji must be in so much pain. He sounds like he will die if she does not help him and she thrashes and Hiashi’s hands are going to bruise. She can’t get out of his grip. She’s three years old. Something is wrong. “Let me go! _”_

“I will not,” Hiashi says. Hinata gives a hard push forward, but it is futile. She will not be going anywhere, and she knows it. The cries die down, and Hinata’s tears start anew.

“Neji!” she calls. Nobody answers. “He’s dead!” Hiashi opens his mouth, but Hinata continues on. “You killed him! You told me to—to watch—to—he was hurt!”

Hinata rubs her eyes. They sting an awful lot. Burn, really. There’s a pressure in her eyes that makes it feel as though they’re going to pop out of her skull.

She whips her head back around toward the tall elder when she hears a sudden, loud sound. The elder’s hands are close together, which must mean that he has just clapped. Something weird happens, like water flowing quickly all across her body, and Neji wakes up. He gasps and his back arches, and Hinata’s eyes widen. She throws herself forward again, and tries to ignore how hard her father is holding her.

“Neji!” Hinata yells. “Neji!”

They are hurting her best friend. They killed him once, or at least they hurt him so bad it looked like he was dead, and she won’t let them do it again. She can’t. Or else she’ll be a failure, or else Neji won’t ever call her family again. She frantically looks around at all the other Hyūga in the courtyard, willing them to get up and help. They all look back at her with varying expressions.

The few people near her look disdainful. One woman near her is sneering. Those on the other side of the courtyard look stunned, and a little hopeful. Hinata growls and she can’t get words out, not right now because her throat hurts and her eyes oh gods her _eyes—_

Hiashi’s grip on her doubles in strength, and she tries again to pull away from him.

“He is conscious. We may continue,” the short elder informs, adjusting his grip on a panting Neji’s shoulders.

“Please,” Neji says quietly, and the word sounds cracked in the middle. Broken. Hinata is sure nobody should ever sound this way. How dare these people do this to him? He’s their family—he’s a member of the Branch House and Hinata thought that only meant he wouldn’t be able to inherit the clan.

The tall elder makes the boar hand seal again, and the screaming starts anew. Hinata wants to vomit.

“NO!” she shrieks, and she’s crying from both the pain in her head and eyes and the sight of Neji lying there unable to move and her own _family_ is holding him down like that. Family is supposed to love you. They’re not supposed to make you hurt like that. Sukiyo had said family is about love and her mother and father love her. They’re not helping Neji. Do they love Neji? “You’re going to kill him! Stop! He’s going to die again!”

Futsuko, from beside her, pales and puts her hand over Hinata’s mouth. Futsuko is looking directly into her eyes. Hinata seizes her chance, talking through the hand muffling her. “Mother! Help him! Please! He’s in pain!”

Hinata’s eyes hurt. She wants it to stop, but she wants whatever they’re doing to Neji to stop more. Futsuko frowns and moves forward. Hinata dares to think that she will help Neji. Hinata expects that her mother will go and wrench the elders off of her dear cousin. That her mother will set Neji free. Instead, Futsuko’s hand comes toward her, quick as a lightning strike, and she barely has time to feel a sharp pain in her neck before her vision washes away.

*

When Hinata wakes up, the first thing she does is roll over and vomit.

“Typical symptom of chakra exhaustion,” someone who Hinata only realizes five seconds later is the Hyūga medic, Ritsu, says. “Although, the reasons for her chakra exhaustion are . . . ”

“Futsuko, what have you done?” someone asks. It’s Father, she realizes belatedly. “You have shamed me and the whole clan. You gave birth to—to a half-Uchiha. A bastard. Do you even understand the severity of the problem? We’ll not be able to take her in after this, of course.”

“Father?” Hinata asks, focusing on him. “What’s going on?”

“Don’t call me that,” Hiashi says coldly. “As I suspected, you are no child of mine.”

That hurts.

“You suspected?” Futsuko says. She’s pale, shaking, and sweaty. “I—how long? Hiashi, don’t—”

“Silence,” Hiashi says. Mother flinches.

On top of all the hurt, all the confusion, it’s weird. Hinata doesn’t feel right. “B-but, Father,” she tries, “I’m—”

“I am no longer your father,” Hiashi says. “And as of today you are no longer Hyūga. Futsuko is being kept in the clan solely because of her relation to Kiyoko-sama, and because she must raise your younger sister, who is the legitimate heir to the clan now, unlike you. A mere bastard child.”

Hinata feels like she can’t breathe. “Out? I’m going . . . out? Out of the clan?”

“Yes. Your tainted blood shall no longer stain the main house. Be glad that you can help better our clan,” Hiashi says. “Compare it to leeching poison out of the bloodstream.”

She’s poison. Hinata is poison. “Mother?” she asks, turning slowly toward her Futsuko. “What’s going on?”

“I’m sorry, Hinata,” is all that Futsuko says, and all Hinata can think is that she doesn't look very sorry. She loves her mother but she wants answers, not the side-glances and anger she’s getting right now. And she really is angry—her hands are clenched tight in her kimono and her breathing is too controlled to be anything but on purpose. Why is Futsuko angry at Hinata? Did she do something wrong? Why is Hiashi angry at her? Why is he kicking her out? She doesn't understand. Had Hiashi called her a—a bastard?

She’s a bastard child. The Hyūga doctor looks her over with disdain on his face and dismisses her. Futsuko tells her to pack her things. She can’t stop thinking about Neji. He’s not dead. He’s hurt. He might be dead. But he _can’t_ be. Neji is her best friend who trains with her every day after lunch. Hinata hasn’t had lunch yet.

She’s not sure when she starts crying but she looks down at the clothes she’d packed up (small fingers fumbling over cloth, a little girl who has to do all her own work, a little girl who stopped having nap time a year ago and started training instead) and realizes her favorite shirt is wet with tears.

Sukiyo stares at her silently and helps her fold her pink blanket.

“Goodbye, Hinata-chan,” she says at the gate. A dark-haired man has come to collect her. Mother and Father—except they said she’s going away forever so they’re not her parents anymore and she shouldn’t call them that—regard her with cold eyes for a few seconds. They have words with the man, who introduces himself as Hiroshi-but-you-can-call-me-dad, and he takes her things and instructs her to walk with him.

“Where are we going?” she asks, once the Hyūga compound is out of sight.

Hiroshi looks at her. She doesn’t know what kind of expression he’s got on his face. Maybe he’s a little sad. “The Uchiha district.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please leave a comment/kudos if you liked it! I love hearing about what you thought was good about this fic!


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> late chapter...... i know...... im sorry.......

A bastard. Yes, Hinata knows what a bastard child is. Her caretakers had told her about them. Someone who shares the blood of someone the mother didn’t marry. An illegitimate child. Sukiyo used to tell her she’s lucky not to be one, she’s lucky to be pure of blood and fortunate.

“How much do you know about the situation?” Hiroshi asks her.

“I’m a bastard child,” Hinata says. “Father . . . Hiashi said so.”

“I’m—I’m sorry. I’m sorry,” Hiroshi repeats. “You’ll be living with me from now on. I don’t think you’ll be able to return to the Hyuug a.”

“Okay,” she says. What else is there to say? That she is fine with this? She misses her mother and father already. She’s not supposed to call them family anymore but she wants to. She misses them. Mother and Father. In her own head, that’s who they are.

“I’m sorry, again. It’s hard for you. We can talk later if you need to. Right now, we’re going to see Fugaku-sama and have a standard check-up done,” Hiroshi says, standing, and then he adds, “He’s the clan head.”

“Not a doctor?” Hinata asks, stumbling over herself to get up. Hiroshi smiles at her and holds his hand out. Hinata looks at him, unsure of what to do with it. “Um . . . ?”

“They didn’t even hold your hand?” he asks, irritation flashing across his face.

“Is that bad?”

“No, no,” Hiroshi—you can call me dad—I don’t want to call you dad—says, quick to reassure her. “It’s okay. Do you want to hold my hand?”

“Okay.” She holds her hand out unsurely and the two of them fumble around for a moment trying to grab ahold of each other until Hiroshi finally takes a deep breath and gently fits their hands together. It’s warm. His hand is so much bigger than hers. Hinata feels a little lost.

“Let’s go, Hinata-chan,” he says, crouching down so she doesn’t have to lift her arm that far. They manage to waddle out to the front door before Hiroshi sighs. “Okay, this isn’t going to work. I’ll be a hunchback before thirty. Piggy-back ride?”

Hinata’s seen Neji riding on his father’s back—and the thought of Neji stings so she tries her best to shove it out of her mind—and other branch members’ children doing the same. It looks fun. Nobody ever let Hinata ride on their back. But she’s in a new place with a new . . . fake dad . . . so she guesses she should try new things. “All right.”

Hiroshi lets go of her hand and crouches down. She climbs onto his back like she’s seen her cousin do, hooking her arms underneath his own. His hands come up to support her legs. “Oof,” he says. “You’re heavy.”

“I’m sorry,” she says.

“No, no, don’t apologize,” Hiroshi says, maneuvering to open the door. He kicks it shut behind them once they’re out and the two of them make their way down a quiet road. Hinata rests her head on Hiroshi’s shoulder and closes her eyes against the harsh afternoon light. She wonders why the street’s so empty. Maybe everyone’s at work. Maybe nobody lives in these houses. Maybe there is a monster here.

“H-Hiroshi-san?” she asks.

“Yes?” he responds, looking back at her for a moment.

“Where is everybody?”

“Well, we’re all Uchiha here, and the Uchiha run the military police. Almost all the shinobi here are working right now,” he answers. “The Uchiha have a very important role in the shinobi system. We stop missing-nin before they can escape the village and we’re responsible for capturing enemy-nin in the field.”

Hinata nods dutifully, but with every word he says it becomes harder and harder to keep her eyes open. She’d been tired before, right after the thing with Neji had happened, but now she’s just wrung out and exhausted. Will Hiroshi be mad if she takes a nap? Hopefully not.

*

“Hinata-chan? Wake up.” It’s Hiroshi.

“I’m awake,” Hinata mumbles. Her arms are wrapped around Hiroshi’s neck now instead of under his arms. He’s still carrying her.

“I’m going to put you down now,” Hiroshi says, and she nods before looking behind her to see where he’ll set her. There’s a comfy-looking chair right where he looks like he’s about to place her, and she loosens her grip around his neck as Hiroshi crouches. She slides off his back and plops with little grace into the soft seat. “We’re at the clan head’s house.”

Hinata takes the opportunity to survey her surroundings. She’s in a small room with a dining table and chairs off to one side. There are three chairs set up in a triangle on her side of the room. She’s sitting in one of them. A tall-looking man with a serious face is sitting in another. He reminds her of Father, but his posture is more relaxed, his hair is darker—just like her and Hiroshi—and he’s smiling, something Father, Hiashi, never did. 

“Hello, Hinata,” he greets. Hiroshi sits down in the chair next to her. “My name is Fugaku. Address me as Fugaku-sama. I’m the Uchiha clan head. There are matters I need to discuss with you, such as the activation of your Sharingan and how to avoid using it. Since we won’t begin chakra training until you are five, there is a minimal chance that you will accidentally activate it.”

“Oh, that’s right,” Hiroshi says. “Hinata-chan—you’re three years old? In the Uchiha clan, we begin chakra training at five. When do the Hyuuga  begin? Is there anything we need to do to make sure you’re ready?”

“The Hyuuga  begin at six,” Hinata says. She watches Hiroshi closely and he seems to slump with relief. She shouldn’t hold back information though, so she tells him, “But since I’m—was set to inherit, Father started my training this year.”

“Did he?” Hiroshi murmurs. “Well, that’s complicated. We’ll have to make sure you don’t burn out—”

Fugaku-sama puts his hand up, the signal for Hiroshi to stop speaking. “In that case, I’ll give you an aptitude test and assign you daily chakra exercises so your coils don’t become crippled over these coming years. I would now ask you to direct chakra to your eyes. A minimal amount.”

Hinata concentrates a tiny stream of chakra into her eyes. Sharpness bleeds into her vision. She can see every single twitch, every move of a muscle the people on either side of her make. She knows Fugaku’s going to lower his hand before he actually does it because she can see the way his arm and shoulder move in preparation. So this is the Sharingan.

“Look into my eyes,” Fugaku-sama commands. She’s already done it before he finishes speaking. There’s so much in her line of sight. It’s like a magnifying glass for the whole world except Hinata doesn’t even have to refocus her eyes to look at something nearer or farther. She just looks and it’s in perfect clarity. “Deactivate your eyes.”

Hinata stops the chakra flow to her eyes, which had been good timing on Fugaku-sama’s part because she’d started to become tired already. “What kind of exercises should I do? Do I need to activate my Sharingan?” she asks.

“No, you don’t,” Fugaku-sama replies. “That would drain your chakra more than necessary. Hiroshi?”

“Yes, Fugaku-sama?” Hiroshi asks.

“You will provide a place for her to train and oversee her exercises. Meditation in the morning—instruct her to direct chakra to each of her limbs. Take extreme caution. Usual training will begin on her fifth birthday. Until then, you are to situate her within the clan.” Fugaku pauses, and adds, “She will make connections. She will not be ostracized for her blood—her Sharingan are more than enough to prove her place in this clan. You are to monitor and encourage her relationships with other children. Dismissed.”

*

Hiroshi isn’t happy about the circumstances that’d led to Hinata’s birth. He’d met Futsuko at a bar and they’d had a one-night stand and he hadn’t even known her name, just her beauty and she’d had him wrapped around her little finger from the moment they started talking. She might have been under a henge.

She’d been married. Hiroshi is disgusted with himself.

So yes, he regrets the circumstances that led to her birth. But Hinata herself he doesn’t regret. He’s known her for a few hours at best and she’d been sleeping on his back for about fifteen minutes of that but he already loves her. He’s a dad.

Uchiha Hiroshi is a dad.

Maybe he should be having an existential crisis over this. God knows Fugaku did, when Mikoto had been pregnant with Itachi. That’d been a hilarious time—Hiroshi’d had take over the clan while Fugaku alternated between sobbing into Mikoto’s arms, destroying training dummies, and sitting in one place for so long Hiroshi’d thought him dead at least once. Hiroshi is doing exactly none of those. Instead he’s caught somewhere in the middle of happy and surprised. He’s always wanted kids but has never been able to stomach the thought of a long-term relationship. Maybe it’s better this way.

He’s carrying Hinata piggyback style all the way to his house now. It’s situated on the edge of the compound, near the entrance to Konoha proper, because more often than not he’s the one sent to the administration building to do errands on Fugaku’s days off. The closer the better, in his opinion.

He’s a dad. He’s a father. Hinata is his child, his flesh-and-blood child. A bastard, sure, and he’s never going to forgive Futsuko for that, not really, but he’ll never pin any of that blame onto Hinata. She’s innocent.

They reach his house and he sets her down on his bed. They’ll have to go shopping tomorrow for things to decorate her room with, and Hiroshi will finally have to stop coming up with excuses to not clean out the area behind his house. Hinata will need a training space in the coming years and Hiroshi will not deny her one. He’ll put up a few training posts, maybe build a pond, have a concrete area where Hinata can practice her fire jutsu—that is, if she doesn’t take after the usual Hyuu ga water release. Personally he hopes she has a fire affinity, just because he wants to see part of him in her—besides the looks, that is.

Hiroshi takes a deep breath in and gets ready for bed. Once he’s remembered to turn off the stove, put away the soup he’d left simmering, and clean up the kitchen, he climbs in next to Hinata. She stirs slightly and asks him what he’s doing. “Just getting in bed,” he answers. “Tomorrow we can shop for stuff to put in your room, okay?”

“Okay,” Hinata answers sleepily. 

Hiroshi pulls the chain on his bedside lamp. The light shuts off. He’d like to say he’s out before his head hits the pillow but if he said that he’d be a liar and Hiroshi doesn’t lie. Instead he lies there on his back, hands folded over his stomach, staring at the ceiling. The only source of light in the room is from a small night light plugged in on the other side of the room, there to guide Hiroshi to the bathroom at night when he can’t see.

Hinata’s sleeping on the left side of the bed and he’s sleeping on the right. She’s a tiny lump under the blankets, short black hair spread limply over her pillow, side rising with every breath she takes. She’s so small compared to him. He wants to hold her like she’s something precious but he thinks she’d be offended if he insinuated that she was fragile. No, Hinata’s a strong spirit, just like him.

Hinata. His daughter. Uchiha Hinata. Hiroshi likes the name more than he will admit to himself. Uchiha Hinata, he mouths to himself. She’s his daughter and he knows this and he’s happy about it but some part of this hasn’t sunk in yet. He’s waiting for the genjutsu to be broken, waiting for the moment it all ends.

On a whim, he activates his Sharingan. Immediately his vision sharpens and the room brightens. Every detail stands out to him in clarity that would be painful if he didn’t have the Sharingan. As it is he’s prepared to take the information in and his eyes roam the room, searching for an inconsistency in reality. He finds nothing. Of course he’d find nothing—Hiroshi prides himself on being able to detect genjutsu. It’s real. But still.

Hiroshi rolls over on his side so he can plant a kiss onto Hinata’s temple. “Goodnight, Hinata,” he whispers.

*

“I don’t like daikon,” Hinata announces quietly. She’s picking at the broth and noodles, a dish from Wave Hiroshi had brought home one day and never really stopped making, and Hiroshi notices she’s eaten the carrots and chicken but left her daikon untouched. That’s okay.

“Well, it’s a good thing daikon is my favorite,” Hiroshi says. “Come on. Put it in my bowl and I’ll eat it.” He slides his bowl over to Hinata and she dutifully scoops her daikon into it, giving him a grateful look. He smiles at her in return. “After this, we’ll go shopping for furniture. We’re going to be staying within the district.”

“Why does your clan have a district?” Hinata asks.

“It’s a very long story,” Hiroshi says. “I’ll tell you sometime later. Is that okay?”

Hinata nods and digs into her soup with a renewed vigor, bringing the clear noodles up to her face and slurping with no little enthusiasm. Hiroshi’s glad she likes his cooking. He’d been eating his own meals for so long, he’d been afraid he’d grown numb to its taste (or lack thereof) and Hinata would think he’s a bad cook.

“Awesome,” he breathes. Hiroshi’s dodged a bullet for now. Maybe he’ll tell her when she’s older and more able to understand. For three years old, though, she’s already got an impressive command over spoken language, and her reading comprehension skills seem to be pretty high, too. Hiroshi thinks of Itachi and then decidedly does not think about Itachi. He’s proud of the kid, sure, and he loves the kid unconditionally, but Hiroshi’s not a liar. Itachi scares him a little. “Hurry up and finish eating. Your bag is in the closet in my room so you can go ahead and change after you’re done. I’m going to do the dishes, so bring all that to me when you finish.”

Hinata nods solemnly at him and he hurries into the kitchen, taking his bowl with him and washing it in the sink. He lets himself space out, hands automatically going through the motions. He puts the bowl in the dish rack and puts a little more soap on his sponge and gets to washing his chopsticks. After he takes care of that he washes the big soup pot from yesterday night. He’s interrupted when Hinata tugs on his pants.

“Here’s my bowl,” she says, offering it up to him. Hiroshi’s heart melts.

“Thank you,” he says, taking the bowl from her and washing it too. Hinata sticks around to watch him for a few seconds and then disappears into another part of the house. He finishes with the pot, a few other things from yesterday and the day before he’d been too lazy to take care of, and puts those in the rack. He hangs up most of the pots. By the time he dries his hands on the towel and comes back out into the living room, Hinata’s there running a comb through her hair. She’s dressed already.

“Hello,” she greets quietly.

“Ready to go shopping?” he asks, motioning for her to stand up.

“I’m ready,” she says, and takes his hand. And they shop.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **IMPORTANT: i've changed a lot of things in chapter one and two. please reread them if you're here for an update!**
> 
>  
> 
> okay, readers, it's high time i came clean....... i have no idea how to write children, i've given up even pretending to have any semblance of structure or plot in this story, and i have no idea how to write or what to do at any time, ever. thank you for reading; i hope you enjoy this slag heap enough to leave a comment.
> 
> also, i think this recent surge of productivity is coming to a close. it's time for me to return to obsessively playing monster hunter until a fic idea spawns and i start the cycle again.

Hinata has a cousin. His name is Sasuke.

After she and Hiroshi go shopping for a bed and blankets and clothes and everything Hiashi refused to send with her—Hiroshi lets her have yellow sheets, her favorite color, when Father’s servants had only ever made up her bed in shades of white—she is escorted to Fugaku-sama’s house. Hiroshi works during the day and so does Fugaku-sama, but a nice woman who tells Hinata her name is Mikoto welcomes them in with a smile on her face.

Hiroshi drops her off, waves goodbye, I’ll see you tonight.

Mikoto guides her into the house gently and firmly, says she has a son right around Hinata-chan’s age and would she like to meet him? Hinata says yes. She meets her cousin, and his name is Sasuke.

“Mama said you’re new,” Sasuke says, sticking his hand out. “I’m Sasuke.”

“My name is H-Hinata,” she says, stumbling over her name and hoping he doesn’t catch it. She takes his hand, shakes it limply, lets go. He looks like her, soft black hair just like Hinata’s and just not like the Hyū ga, but his eyes—like all the other real Uchiha—are black. He does not look like Neji, who is also her cousin. Maybe they can be friends anyway.

Sasuke smiles at her. “Mama said if you have any questions, or if you want to know who any other kids are ‘cause you’re new, you can ask me. I’ll help! Is Hiroshi-oji really your dad?” Hinata nods. Sasuke seems happy to keep talking without your input. “Being an Uchiha is really nice. It’s sad you were stuck somewhere else. Do you want to make friends? I have a brother, Itachi-nii, he’s super cool and really good at being a shinobi.”

“I’d like to meet him,” Hinata says. It is the right thing to say.

“I bet he’d like you too!” Sasuke says, motioning for her to follow him through the house. “C’mon, you can come see my room.”

Sasuke shows her his room. Hinata smiles and appreciates it, and it is a nice room, spacious and light with a soft-looking bed pushed up against the wall farthest from the door. Sasuke shows her some of his dull practice kunai, asks if she wants to see a cool trick. She says yes. He throws his weapon at one of the brightly colored targets on the other side of the room, and it hits near the center, sticks for half a second in the soft wood, and falls back out.

“I’ve been practicing forever,” Sasuke says, hopping across the room to retrieve his kunai and put it back in his box. “When I get the Sharingan, I’ll be even better, but Itachi-nii says I’m good.”

“When do you get the Sharingan?” Hinata asks.

“Well . . . ” Sasuke looks uncomfortable. “Nobody told me yet, only it’d be when I’m older. But I hope it’s soon. I have to keep up with Itachi-nii.”

“I can show you something cool too,” Hinata says. Sasuke looks at her and she channels chakra to her eyes. Everything is sharp, wonderfully so, and Sasuke’s expression of awed surprise burns itself into her memory. She deactivates her Sharingan. “I have mine. So maybe you’ll get it soon.”

She doesn’t say anything about Neji, or about how she only got it after that . . . _thing_ had happened to him, and she shudders, feeling very alone and very small, before straightening herself and trying to catch up with Sasuke’s questions. She thinks maybe he said WHAT, HOW, I want mine, please tell me how you did it, I didn’t know you could get it that young, pleasepleaseplease—

“I don’t know,” Hinata says. “Maybe it was an accident.”

She hasn’t thought about him since then, sharp vision and the Uchiha compound and her father’s cold face as he had disowned her all on her mind but now, now, when Sasuke—her cousin who is not Neji and who does not even look like him—is asking her so many questions. She can’t think about two things at once so, with a horrible feeling in her chest, she pushes Neji to the back of her mind and turns her attention to Sasuke.

Neji must be fine.

Sasuke’s shoulders slump. “Yeah, I thought so. Well, if you find out, tell me. Do you wanna play outside?”

“Yes,” Hinata says. “Do you like hide and seek?”

Hinata and Sasuke play hide and seek and ninja tag and every game under the sun they can think of until Mikoto calls them in for lunch. After lunch it is play again and Neji is far in the back of her mind, so she chases Sasuke under the shade of the trees in the backyard and kicks up dust underneath her sandals when their game spills out onto the street in front.

When Hiroshi comes to pick her up just before dinner, she is a sight to behold—hair messy and sticking to her sweaty face, fluffy jacket tied around her waist, knees scraped and palms dirty. Hiroshi crouches down and she clambers onto his back. Her arms, legs, they’re both sore. She hasn’t played that hard in a while, mostly because Hiashi hadn’t liked it when she laughed loud or ran around everywhere. Mikoto encourages her. Hinata likes Mikoto’s encouragement.

They arrive home, Hiroshi fills the bath tub for her, and she cleans herself up.

She exits the bathroom with a towel over her head, resting on her slick damp hair, and the smell of the same soup she’d had for breakfast yesterday hits her senses. She breathes. She’d never had anything like it in the Hyūga  compound. Hiroshi says it’s from a faraway country; she’s never been outside Konoha.

Hiroshi plucks the towel off her head while she’s on her way to the table and disappears into another room, presumably to put it in the laundry. Hinata takes a seat and Hiroshi joins her a little while later.

“I had fun today. Sasuke is really nice,” Hinata says through a mouthful of the soup.

“That’s good. I thought you two would get along. Do you think you’d like staying there on the days I work?” Hiroshi asks, looking at her pointedly. She swallows her food before responding.

“Yes!” Hinata says. “I like Mikoto-oba too. She put a bandage on my knee when I fell.”

“I’m glad. Say, I have a day off tomorrow. I’ve made an appointment for you at the Yamanaka health clinic—there’s nothing wrong with you, I promise! It’s just, whenever an Uchiha gains their Sharingan, it’s usually because something bad happened. And you’ve had a very rough week, I think. The Yamanaka are good at helping you find ways to calm yourself down if it ever gets too much,” Hiroshi explains. Hinata takes this all in.

“I feel okay,” Hinata claims.

“I’m sure you do, right now,” Hiroshi says, “but you might not tomorrow. This is just in case, okay? You only have to see them three times. After that, you can stop.”

“Okay,” Hinata says. She doesn’t want to make Hiroshi have to take her anywhere. It feels mean of her, for him to go out of his way to take him somewhere because she has her Sharingan and got—got—kicked out of her family. “I can do that.”

“I’m proud of you,” Hiroshi says, and the praise has Hinata smiling. “The session will be forty-five minutes long. Do you want to do anything after that? We have all day. We could do some shopping, if you feel like you need more clothes, or we could start your meditation. Or something else. It’s up to you, Hinata.”

“Can we explore the district?” Hinata says, feeling very small. She’s not used to deciding, planning. Her father had planned her days for her, and her maid had ensured she followed his schedule. “I don’t wanna get lost. Just in case. Can Sasuke come?”

“Of course we can,” Hiroshi says, pausing to slurp up some more noodles. “Well—we can stop by Mikoto’s house and ask if Sasuke can come with us. He has to want to, too.”

“I showed him my Sharingan,” she says.

“He will definitely want to come,” Hiroshi predicts. “But you shouldn’t be activating your Sharingan unless an adult is there. It’s easy to exhaust yourself.”

Hinata wants to protest. It was only for a few seconds, she’s fine—but she nods. “I won’t do it anymore.”

“You’re not in trouble. I just want you to be careful,” Hiroshi sighs. He’s smiling, though. “Come on, finish that food and I’ll do the dishes and then maybe tell you a bedtime story. If—if you want.”

“I do,” Hinata says.

*

“My name is Yamanaka Santa,” the red-haired man says to her. “You are Uchiha Hinata?” Hinata nods. “Uchiha Hiroshi?” Hiroshi nods. Yamanaka had asked if Hinata wanted Hiroshi to leave, but she’d said no. She feels safer with Hiroshi there. He feels like he’ll protect her. “Good. I understand there’s been a—situation. Hinata, you’ve awakened your Sharingan.”

“Y-yes,” Hinata says.

“I think we’ll start by educating you about the Sharingan, unless your—” Yamanaka looks at Hiroshi.

“—father,” Hiroshi supplies. Hinata nods.

“—father has already given you an explanation,” Yamanaka says.

“I don’t know much about it,” Hinata says, looking toward Hiroshi for guidance. He smiles encouragingly. “Except it makes my vision better.”

“Then you don’t know how it is gained,” Yamanaka says. Hinata nods. She feels as though this is going to be a day for a lot of nodding. “A traumatic event is the only known way to awaken the Sharingan. May I talk about it?”

Hinata thinks about Neji. Neji has to be alive. She nods.

“You witnessed your cousin receive the Caged Bird seal,” Yamanaka states, and Hinata flinches. Is that what it’s called? Yes, she had, hadn’t she? He’d been there on the ground. He’d screamed. She had screamed too. Why did they make her watch that? “You thought he died.”

“He’s not dead,” Hinata says.

“He’s not dead,” Yamanaka echoes. “The process is painful, but it is not deadly. I understand how you would have thought him dead.”

Hinata slumps in her seat. He’s not dead. She’d repeated it to herself many times over the past few days, at night when she’d been alone without anyone to see her, when she’d talked to Sasuke yesterday. She had believed in it, stubbornly, refusing to even entertain the notion that he’d been dead. Hearing it as fact is different. This makes it real.

Tears burn at Hinata’s eyes. Her hands fly up to her face. She won’t cry, won’t show weakness, won’t—

Something nudges her in the arm. She peers through the cracks in her fingers. It’s a tissue box. Yamanaka is holding it out for her. She settles it awkwardly in her lap—it takes up almost the whole thing—and sniffles.

“It’s okay to cry,” Yamanaka reassures her. “You’re very young, and you’ve been through something horrible.”

“Father didn’t like it when I cried,” Hinata says, voice trembling.

“You mean Hyūga -sama,” Yamanaka guesses. Hinata nods. “Hinata, Hyūga -sama is not here right now. He will not know you are crying, and you don’t have to see him. Have you been doing okay away from him?”

Hinata thinks about that one. He’d barely been around, and she’d spent more time around the various servants than she had around him. He’d taught her about chakra, about training, had given her her first practice set of senbon. He’d made sure she was well taken care of. He is . . . her father, and he disowned her and called her blood tainted, compared her to a blight in the blood, and he isn’t even her real father but—but—Hinata thinks she still loves him, in a way. Even though now she knows how awful he had been toward her. Hiroshi is the exact opposite of Hiashi in almost every way, never tells her to be quiet or sit up straighter and stop hiding her face and Hinata likes it, maybe even loves it but there is something she misses about the cold walls and floors of her home. Her old home.

“It’s okay to have mixed feelings about him,” she registers Yamanaka saying faintly. “Uchiha-san, is she making friends?”

She doesn’t pay attention to the rest of their conversation, only sits there and breathes and thinks about Neji and how Hiashi had said it was an honor. How is pain an honor? How is making Hinata think Neji died a service to the clan? Why had her mother done nothing to stop it? Hinata had always thought Futsuko, Mother, was gentler than Hiashi. Even if she saw her mother less than Hiashi, only at mealtimes and the occasional clan meeting, Hinata had thought Futsuko was gentler.

But she misses them. This weird feeling in her chest like she’s falling can’t be anything else. She wants her mother and her father. She knows Hiroshi is her dad, her real dad and she wouldn’t like to live stifled like that again but the memory of how it used to be before all this happened tugs painfully at her.

She talks with Yamanaka a little more, tells him about Sasuke and relays her wish to see Neji again. Yamanaka says he’ll see what he can do. Hinata will take it.

Forty-five minutes pass. By the end of it Hinata is too tired, wrung out from crying and from Yamanaka’s formal, polite way of speech, from remembering Neji and discovering she still misses the Hyūga  compound, that she can do nothing more than stumble toward her room and collapse on the big bed and fall into a dream. Exploring, and Sasuke, can wait.

*

By the time Hinata wakes up from her unplanned nap, golden sunshine is filtering through the curtains on the window and diffusing in her room. The whole thing is glowing softly yellow. It is comfortably warm on top of the blankets Hinata hadn’t wrapped herself up in. Her cheek is pressed against her pillow, damp with drool. Her mouth is dry. She feels better than she had this morning.

“Hello,” she greets Hiroshi when she finds him sitting on a couch in the living room, mug of tea in his hands.

“Hello, Hinata-chan,” he says, cracking a yawn. “Did you sleep well?”

“Mhm,” she says, rubbing one eye. She yawns too, and makes a slow path toward Hiroshi. She sits on the couch next to him and leans into his side. She hadn’t been able to do this before much, only with Neji sometimes when he wasn’t feeling prickly. “Is it too late to explore?”

“No. We can go right now if you want,” Hiroshi offers. “Are you awake enough, though?”

“I’ll go wash my face,” Hinata says, pushing herself up off the couch and meandering into the hallway bathroom. She completes the three-step climb to the top of her stool and turns on the faucet. Cold water is unpleasant at the best of times, except when she’s drinking it; unfortunate, then, that this is the most effective way of waking herself up.

She comes back to the living room. Hiroshi is wearing an odd expression on his face.

“Hinata?” he asks. He sounds nervous, she decides.

“Yes?” she replies.

Hiroshi takes a breath. “It must be hard, living in a new house. Everything’s moving so fast, I can hardly believe it—I just wanted to let you know if, um . . . I know I’m not really your father, not yet anyway, but I’ll try my best. And if you ever want to talk to me about something, I’m here for you.”

Instead of replying, Hinata hugs him. He returns the hug after a moment, ruffling her hair slightly and sighing deeply.

“Let’s go see if Sasuke can come with us,” Hinata suggests.

“Oh—yes, let’s do that,” Hiroshi says. “Do you want to walk, or should I carry you?”

“I want to walk,” Hinata says. Hiroshi opens the door, the two of them put their shoes on, and they are on their way to Mikoto’s house.

Sasuke, as it turns out, would very much like to accompany them. Hinata doesn’t actually go inside, but farther into the house she can kind of make out someone else standing in the hallway, taller than Sasuke and her but shorter than Hiroshi and Mikoto. Maybe this is Sasuke’s brother.

She tries to wave but he’s gone before she even starts. Thoughts of Sasuke’s maybe-brother are put out of her mind when the door closes with Mikoto on one side and her, Hiroshi, and Sasuke on the other.

Although Hinata had declined a piggyback ride, Sasuke accepts one cheerfully. He swings his legs, tickles Hiroshi—accidentally, he claims—and boasts his knowledge of the Uchiha district.

“We have a park,” he says proudly, as though he’d been the one to build it. “I go there all the time and play in the sandbox. Did you know Itachi can make sand palaces? You need water, and buckets.”

The Uchiha district does indeed have a park, and the park does indeed have a sandbox. Hiroshi allows Hinata and Sasuke to play around in the sandbox, orange-pink light from the setting sun drawing long shadows over the ground and turning the sand into gold dust.

The rest of the night is spent wandering the well-lit streets of the district. Hiroshi points out certain landmarks, shops, and the like, and Sasuke talks about all the places Itachi likes to visit. So far, Hinata knows more about Itachi than she knows about Sasuke.

Itachi likes dango. Itachi goes to the village blacksmiths instead of the ones in the Uchiha district. Itachi shops at this store, Itachi trains in this field, Itachi, Itachi, Itachi, until Hinata feels like her head is going to fall apart. Hiroshi makes a passing remark about something called “hero worship.” Hinata doesn’t know what it means but she gets the sneaking suspicion it is related to this whole Itachi business.

She bears it. If Sasuke thinks there is something in Itachi that is worth all this rambling, there must be something. Hinata like Sasuke more and more the more time they spend together, her first real friend, and if her brother is the greatest shinobi to ever walk this earth then he’s the greatest shinobi to ever walk this earth and Hinata will not argue with him. At least while he is talking about Itachi, he does not talk about her Sharingan, though she can somehow sense he wants to.

The night ends with Sasuke dropped off at Mikoto’s house, Hiroshi taking Hinata to a bakery for a treat to bring home, and the last of the dish from a faraway country Hiroshi says he likes cooking. Tomorrow there will be something different. Today Hinata closes her eyes to the sound of Hiroshi’s bedtime story and she sleeps.

**Author's Note:**

> i am killing it in [gama-chan party](https://discord.gg/g25p3S3), discord server run by yours truly.


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